Trout University staff goes to Alaska

Tom and Valerie from troutu.com staff are taking a much needed vacation in Alaska. They are sending back some great photos and a fishing report on the Kenai, and Russian Rivers as well as Deep Creek. Salmon are running and the fishing was spectacular on the kenai.

The local fishermen are allowed to dip net the salmon as they run up the Kenai. They use nets on long poles to scoop the salmon and drag them to shore where they "konk" them over the head. The object is to get enough salmon to fill the freezer for winter. Forget going there for that event as you must be a resident for one year to be allowed to participate. Watch it here:

Exploring the Whitewater River in NC

Last Saturday I went to the western part of North Carolina to the Whitewater River with my son Stephen. We had never fished the Whitewater River so we wated to explore it for ourselves. The Whitewater River originates in NC and flows south into South Carolina and empties into the Jocassee Lake. (By the way, the Jocassee Lake has seen some record brook trout taken.) It is a most remote area and extremely rugged and that makes it very scenic indeed.

However, the small trail leading from State Route 281 is overgrown and covered with fallen trees so it was a difficult trip. Several times I had to crawl on my hands and knees. Due to my failing eyesight I used a spinning rod and a Rooster Tail which I could easily see while Stephen started with a dry fly.

The browns in the upper portion of Whitewater were cooperative. I missed the first two browns after I thought that I had set the hook. But the next brown hit hard and turned out to be a 10 inch brown who was very fiesty indeed. The browns however, were not interested in dry flies so Stephen tried a tandem rig with a nymph on the bottom. Needless to say, we had to leave due to a heavy rainstorm before he had a chance to determine how effective that would be.

After we dried out somewhat, Stephen went to the 400 foot Whitewater Falls, and hiked down to the river. There he had some eager browns but they were a little smaller and from his pictures, they appeared to be about 6 to 9 inches long. The hike back up to the parking lot was extreme to say the least.

Although the trout are plentiful, I do not recommend the Whitewater River unless you are in top physical shape!

Trout Fishing Approved by OSHA

A couple of weeks ago I went trout fishing and it was unseasonably warm in the smokies so I stripped down to my walking shorts and tee shirt; and I promptly fell asleep after enjoying lunch in the most quiet and pleasant surroundings. As I was falling asleep, I could not help but wonder what an average angler would look like if indeed he had to be OSHA approved.

Here are a few examples of what a transition to OSHA approval would look like for the laborious and unsafe task of mowing your lawn. In the first picture (cropped to be decent) you will note a casual perhaps unsafe mower that Iwould have looked like several years ago. The next picture shows what I do to mow today as I have heard of noise abatement, and I have eyesight that I would like to keep no matter how poor it has become. Also I would like to keep a few of my better toes.

The third picture shows what OSHA would prefer me to look like today, complete with a rear view mirror, headlights, heart rate monitor and turn signals just to mention some of the bigger safety devices. Notice the socks for protection from rocks, gumballs etc.

One Big Fly Box

When James Marsh, creator of the Perfect Flies line of flies and fly boxes called upon Trout University to build a fly box to contain an inventory of over 50,000 Perfect Flies and to be able to transport those flies to Townsend Tennessee for the annual TroutFest, it was a tall order to say the least. By the way, James line of Perfect Flies can be purchased right here at Trout University.

After several design iterations the Trout University engineers decided on an adjustable shelving arrangement capable of storing the individual boxes in 4 bays of 7 shelves each creating 28 openings that were 4 inches high by 15 ½ inches wide. The smaller boxes could be four to a shelf and the larger salt water fly boxes could be one to a shelf. The adjustable shelving system makes it possible to convert the height of the shelves to conserve space or to change the configuration as the need arises.

Be sure to check in at the Perfect Fly booth at the 2010 TroutFest in Townsend Tennessee, on May 15 and 16 to meet James as well as myself and to see the World’s largest fly box.

Emma Teacher Fisherman in Sunday School

On the humerous side, Professor Steve at the Trout University has a daughter who is 4 years old who was teaching a Sunday School today in the living room.

There were so many atendees including some first time visitors that folding chairs had to be set up. The bear and the obnoxious moose were in attendance and you may recall them from a previous class "You Can Not Teach Bears in Winter"

Emma joins the class to relax and listen to the choir.

All was going very well until just after the announcements were completed when I happen to look over to the easy chair where the fisherman was sitting. I noticed that he was fast asleep and did not want to be disturbed.

Emma regained her composure and promptly closed the meeting with song.

Andrew (Drew) Makes A Fishing Trip

Drew got all dressed up for some serious trout fishing but he forgot his waders. Perhaps that explains why he looks so unhappy. Drew is the 2 month old son of Stephen Maslar from Trout University. Steve is starting him trout fishing at a very young age.

I understand that their destination is kept secret, but I would guess that it is somewhere in the Smokies. Last night I saw Drew reading Fly Fishing in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park by a Troutu friend Jim Casada. Good luck on your first fishing trip Drew!

Andrew Maslar arrived with a trout fly rod

Andrew Russell Maslar was born at Charlotte Memorial Hospital at 12:46 October 31: a Halloween baby. The Doctors were amazed to have such an exceptional delivery because he was born with a fly fishing rod in his hand. He was 7lbs 3 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

Congratulations to his parents Steve and Carleen Maslar. By the way, he is not smiling in the picture because we told him it would be at least 3 years before he could cast a fly,

Trout University Website Approaches 1st Anniversary

Wow, the time has gone by so fast. We started the Troutu website in October of 2008 for the purpose of promoting catch and release trout fishing as a family sport. Our mission is to efficiently provide useful, relevant information and products to trout fishermen with all levels of experience; and our moto is "Spend a few minutes on the net, and put more trout in your net".
Our goal is to be the "go to" site for all levels of trout anglers.

Our staff grew by Professor Dan Farnsworth a Minnesota native who brings cold weather experience to the University and by Associate Professor Tom Rosenbauer who is Director of Marketing for Orvis Rod and Reels, and Brant Oswald who is a professional guide and writer as well as Director of Orvis West Coast Fly Fishing School.

For consulting, we are pleased to have Jim Casada who is the author of the award-winning books, "Modern Fly Fishing" and "Fly Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: An Insider’s Guide to a Pursuit of Passion". Jim has over 50 years of trout fishing in the Smoky Mountains National Park and he mixes humor, history and trout fishing into his writings.

We also have the entomology and fly fishing expertise of world famous fly fisherman James Marsh who has over 15 fly fishing DVDs available on our site. We are pleased to announce that we will soon be offering his line of Perfect Flies, flies so realistic, you can not distinguish them from the real alive insect!

During the past year, we have added hundreds of pages as well as several products to the site; and since November 2008, when we received our first visitor, we have been overwhelmed with almost 14,000 visits to the site.

We are not resting on our laurels, however, as we plan to add much, much more this coming year. Of course, we plan to make many improvements as well. Happy Anniversary to us!